Beware of the low life tax scammers

As I write this, it’s just after noon on Feb 7, and already today I have received FOUR bogus calls on my cell phone claiming to be from Revenue Canada. The scum of the earth, low life scammers are working overtime at this time of the year, trying to squeeze every penny out of ordinary Canadians.

Let’s get something straight, Revenue Canada is NOT likely to call you, their preferred communication method is mail because they and you want a paper trail.

However, the scamming pigs hope you don’t know that, and so they are calling thousands and thousands of numbers every day, hoping they can play on your fear, hoping you will call them back. In my case, they have been trying this little game on me for several years now, and I can tell you they are getting more sophisticated as time goes on.

It used to be that their voicemail messages were almost unintelligible, with strong Indian accents, pathetic grammar, and poor quality connections. Now, they are most often voice-generated, accent-neutral messages, and often clear enough to hear every word, and every nuance designed to scare the hell out of you, or the money out of you!

And, if you have call display, they sometimes seem to come from Ottawa. But check this out…

Today, I had two calls from 1 (613) 627-3045 (both before 8am). And then, on the third call it mysteriously showed as +31 3 6273 045, which displayed as originating in Australia. In the past week I also had calls from five or six US locations.

FACT… The calls do not come from Ottawa, Australia, or the USA. Most of the scamming calls originate in India, where thousands of ordinary folk are employed by sleazy con artists, sometimes being led to believe that they really are calling on behalf of Revenue Canada. Unfortunately, most of them know they are crooks, but they need the meager pay to survive, while the organizers rake in millions a year and spend their time jet-setting around the globe.

So, what can you do? Some people (knowing it is a scam) actually call them back and play along just to waste their time. There are some very entertaining calls on YouTube where people did that and made the scammers angry. However, it is not what I would advise. They will then have your number and could get nasty, offensive and even threatening. Instead, if you see a number on call display that you do not know, I recommend you ignore it. If it is someone who really wants to talk to you they will leave a message. And if the scammer leaves a message, you’ll see through their trick immediately without having to talk to them, and you will get on with life without fear.